30 Days Too Late

Dexter's Sick Day

Rudy

10 Years Ago:

I pass the bathroom but backtrack seeing a boy sitting by the door. "Hey," I say and poke his cheek. He looks up at me with a cut on his face. "What's your name?" I ask.

"It's... Wayne," he answers.

"Wayne, huh?" I pull him up by the arm.

"Why are you eating in front of the bathroom?" I ask.

"I'm not," he whispers and opens his empty lunch box.

"Who did this to you?" I ask. "You're a mess."

"Wipe yourself off; you're dirty," I say, patting dust off back.

"Do you want my lunch tomorrow?" he offers.

"No, I don't want your lunch. Eat it yourself," I grumble.

He must get picked on often, if he offered his lunch up so easily. Speaking of lunch, he's probably hungry, maybe he can sit with my friends and I.

"We're friends now, Wayne" I state and offer my hand.

"Seriously?" His eyes light up. I nod eagerly and he takes my hand. I lead him to my lunch table where my five friends sit. "This is my new friend Wayne. He's pretty cool," I announce. Wayne sits next to me and he tries to smile.

"Where's your lunch?" Marco asks.

"Lional took it," I huff. The table shares a whisper, we hate Lional and Lional hates us.

"They got you pretty good," I say, examining the cut on Wayne's forehead. I unzip my backpack and retrieve a pack of Transformer band-aids.

"What are Transformers?" he asks.

"Giant alien robots who fight evil Transformers," I explain.

"I like aliens," he smiles.

I gently stick the band-aid to his cut. "I wasn't expecting you to be nice, Rudy. I see you all the time with your friends. Everyone talks to you and the teachers like you," he mutters. I've never noticed him until today, we live in two different worlds. Guilt cuts at me like a knife and if I don't do something it'll keep pinching me.

"We should have a playdate today. We can watch Transformers," I suggest happily.

"My parents have been gone for a while, so I have to ask my big sister. But I have skate practice," Wayne replies.

"You skate!?" I shake him and he nods like a bobblehead.

"We should skate together; my mom will take us!" I cheer.

"O-Okay, my skates are in my backpack," he says, grabbing it. "See," he opens it up.

"Wow, these are nice," I say, picking them up. "What's with the sparkles?" I ask.

"I just like sparkles because they're pretty," he replies, taking the skates back. "Do you think that's weird?" he asks, looking sad.

"Not at all, you know why?" I dig through my bag. "Mine are black with a little sparkle here, see," I point out.

"Hockey skates," he gasps.

The school bell dings and it's time to head to class. "Grab your stuff let's go to class," I say.

"Okay," he gets up.

"See you later Rudy," Marco farewells. I wave back and take Wayne's arm.

...

"How did you spin like that?" Wayne asks in amazement.

"Come here," I say and extend my hand.